M-Pathways Update
March 2026

University Human Resources (UHR) and Information and Technology Services (ITS) are updating M-Pathways Human Capital Management (HCM) to better manage fluctuating Fall Term start dates and their downstream impacts.

These changes will streamline administration time by minimizing manual tasks and improving overall compliance, which should be welcome news for those who work in appointment processing, payroll, or effort reporting.

PAR & eRecruit: PAR and eRecruit will now seamlessly handle pay calculations, stretching compensation formulas to match the variable Fall term dates, eliminating the need for manual adjustments. These updates will be available on March 25, 2026.

• Automated Fall Term Compensation: The stretch for Fall Term pay calculations will be programmed directly within eRecruit and PAR, covering Per Term, Half Term (start of term), U-Year T, U-Year, U-Year Overloads appointment types. PAR will allow you to align Spring/Summer term end dates with the day before Fall Starts.

Effort Certification Updates: Certification will align by the academic terms. Those who certify by academic terms will see the improvements. Those who certify annually will not see any changes. The updates will be available on the Spring/Summer 2026 reports, which release on May 1, 2026.

• Department Budget Earnings (DBE) Dates: DBE effective dates will align to term dates. Example: Instead of using 9/1/YY DBE start date for Fall term, the Fall Term Start Date (depending on campus and appointment type) will be the DBE start date.

U-M Information and Technology Services and the School of Information are co-sponsoring Privacy@Michigan events in March that raise awareness and spark thought-provoking conversation on pressing privacy-related issues and topics.

Please join us for these free, open to the public events:

Mar. 17, 4 p.m., “The Case for Hope in Dystopian Times,” a discussion with Albert Fox Cahn, founder and executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.). (Vandenberg room, Michigan League and live streamed)

Mar. 26, 5:30 p.m., “A Conversation with Cindy Cohn” about her recently published professional memoir, "Privacy’s Defender: My Thirty-Year Fight Against Digital Surveillance" (MIT Press). (Kuenzel room, Michigan Union and live streamed)

More Resources on Safe Computing:

• Browse past Privacy@Michigan Events for recordings and information on speakers and topics over the years.
• Check out the privacy protection resources, share them broadly, and become a privacy champion in 2026.

Spring brings brightly colored tulips, buds on the trees, and scammers phishing for personal information, payments, and more. Unfortunately, threat actors target students at higher education institutions, including U-M. A common scam is to lure them with the offer of a job or internship.

How it works:

• Scammers send legitimate-looking emails impersonating real U-M professors or departments.
• Remote work with great pay! No interview. It sounds too good to be true because it is.
• Limited time opportunity! They urge students to act quickly, without thinking.
• They ask students to switch communication to a non-UMICH email or text.
• Then scammers try to trick them into sharing their personal information and/or making payments.

You can help students be victors, not victims, by spreading awareness of these scams and how to avoid them.

Job Offer Scams - It starts with a job offer, but then scammers ask for a favor like acquiring gift cards or processing a check that turns out to be fake.

Tips for those who receive a suspicious email or message:

• Don’t reply. Cut off contact.
• Don’t share login or personal info, or make payments.
• Don’t deposit checks sent via email or text.
• Forward the message to ReportPhish@umich.edu.
• If you gave your login information, change your password ASAP.

Students can visit Safe Computing for Students to learn more about common scams and how to report them.